Thats is so cool. I cant wait to make mine, it will hang on the wall. I bet I can find the answer to my question in the beginning of this post but Im going to ask anyway. Did u start her in a test tube? And if so about how many workers did u get before attaching her to the nest?

martinnate wrote:Thats is so cool. I cant wait to make mine, it will hang on the wall. I bet I can find the answer to my question in the beginning of this post but Im going to ask anyway. Did u start her in a test tube? And if so about how many workers did u get before attaching her to the nest?

Yes, started her in a test tube in August 2014. I actually had around 50 queens just like her and hers is the only colony I have left. I gave away or sold around 10, the others died for various reasons, some due to my inexperience at the time. The first-year hibernation was brutal. Lost quite a few of them. She made it through with 2 workers I think. I moved her into a small formicarium after the first hibernation. She probably had less than 10 workers. I provided heat and plenty of food and they began to grow well. They outgrew the small formicarium, and I provided a small 10" x 12" soil nest. They outgrew that and are now in the 18" x 24". Guessing they are around 500 strong now

I finally was able to see the queen of this colony! It's been well over a year since I've seen her. Glad I finally did. The colony is doing well. They have slowed a little since I removed the heat source from the nest for the winter. I'll add it back in about a month or so and get them going again.

You mention after the test tube hibernation, you moved this queen and her few workers into a small formicarium. What was that set up like for such a small colony?

If I remember right, I had one of Tar Heel Ants' formicaria that I had purchased to test and compare to our formicaria here at AntsCanada. I don't see the one I had, or even one very similar to it, on his site now. It was essentially an outworld with the nesting space on one side of it. It had 3 or 4 chambers I believe. It worked out okay, but I moved the ants out after 5 or 6 months into a small soil formicarium.

You mention after the test tube hibernation, you moved this queen and her few workers into a small formicarium. What was that set up like for such a small colony?

If I remember right, I had one of Tar Heel Ants' formicaria that I had purchased to test and compare to our formicaria here at AntsCanada. I don't see the one I had, or even one very similar to it, on his site now. It was essentially an outworld with the nesting space on one side of it. It had 3 or 4 chambers I believe. It worked out okay, but I moved the ants out after 5 or 6 months into a small soil formicarium.

How did you like the Tar Heels one? I've been looking at them just to try out but mostly because I'm a hoarder of formicaria lol. I have AntsCanada gen1 Large and Small Camponotus and 2 gen2 Camponotus formicaria and then a few founding chambers that I made out of wood and plexi. Just wondering how they compared.

How did you like the Tar Heels one? I've been looking at them just to try out but mostly because I'm a hoarder of formicaria lol. I have AntsCanada gen1 Large and Small Camponotus and 2 gen2 Camponotus formicaria and then a few founding chambers that I made out of wood and plexi. Just wondering how they compared.

Tar Heels does good work. I think his latest stuff nowadays is quite nice, though I haven't purchased anything for a couple of years now.